We have been through the preemie dance as 4 of 5 babies have been 32 weekers, but none have had a chest tube until now. Everett was born January 23rd at 1249, so not yet 48 hours old. He's big and very fiesty which seems to be part of the problem. He kept getting worked up and screaming but was doing well on room air ram Cpap. I was able to hold him multiple times from his first day. I was visiting him at three am and he was calm and doing well. They said as soon as I left he began screaming and started going down hill requiring his o2 to be turned way up along with pressure. Of course this resulted in X-rays which showed he collapsed his right lung. He's now on the vent with a chest tube. Just wondering about others' experiences with chest tubes and how long they had them. Sorry if this is scrambled. Foggy new mommy brain!

Not during NICU stay, but DD (32 weeker) had a chest tube for 4 days after having half of her lung removed when she was 15 months. I also deal with chest tubes on a daily basis as I work in ICUs. It really depends on the reason the lung collapsed in the first place and how much fluid is draining. It's usually a matter of a few days just to make sure they don't risk having to reinsert. Good luck and congrats on your new LO!

Not during NICU stay, but DD (32 weeker) had a chest tube for 4 days after having half of her lung removed when she was 15 months. I also deal with chest tubes on a daily basis as I work in ICUs. It really depends on the reason the lung collapsed in the first place and how much fluid is draining. It's usually a matter of a few days just to make sure they don't risk having to reinsert. Good luck and congrats on your new LO!

We just went through this with our newest ds. Do you mind if I ask why she had part of her lung removed? Ds had congenital lobar emphysema and had his left upper lobe removed 3 weeks ago.

We just went through this with our newest ds. Do you mind if I ask why she had part of her lung removed? Ds had congenital lobar emphysema and had his left upper lobe removed 3 weeks ago.

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Long story, but while she was undergoing CTs and MRIs looking for the cause of a neuro issue, they just happened to stumble upon cysts in both lungs. I can't remember right now exactly what they suspected, but they felt they were highly likely to be malignant so we chose to remove the larger one first. Biopsy came back benign, just some scar tissue likely from an infection prior to birth, and we chose to just monitor the other one. I'm so glad we chose to have it done when she was young, as she now has nearly full lung capacity. It's amazing how resilient little ones are!

My DS (31 weeker) had a chest tube for a couple of days. Having a chest tube is a risk factor for infection because bacteria can get in through that hole. Please be vigilant about looking for signs of infection and making sure that the doctors and nurses do, too. My DS caught an infection that way and the symptoms were ignored for a week before he was treated. He has permanent damage from the infection and we're lucky he's alive.